A fresh season of hope and change in Birdland

Times have changed quickly for Orioles baseball fans regarding payroll and hope, and venerable author and Baltimorean Joel Poiley has noticed from his Florida perch. The longtime sportswriter returns to talk MLB and balls and strikes with Nestor as a promising season gets underway at Camden Yards.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Prepare and bring a few Harlem Globetrotters scratch-off tickets and the new Maryland State Art-inspired scratch-off tickets to the Maryland Crab Cake Tour stop at Fayettely’s in Lexington Market next Friday before the Giants game.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Arrange for Joel Poiley to return on the show after the NFL draft to review how the Orioles are performing early in the season.

Nestor’s Busy Schedule and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses his busy schedule, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and the Harlem Globetrotters.
• He mentions his upcoming checkup at GBMC and his appreciation for their support.
• Nestor talks about the Maryland State Art tickets and his plans to get them by next Friday.
• He highlights his recent return from South America and his wife getting sick after him.

Introduction of Joel Poiley and Baseball Season

• Nestor introduces Joel Poiley, a longtime sports writer and author of a book on Tom Matty.
• Joel is currently in Tampa, but he is a Baltimore native and a fan of the Orioles.
• Nestor expresses excitement about the upcoming baseball season and the new rules in the game.
• They discuss the new challenge system in baseball and its impact on the game.

Joel’s Perspective on the New Challenge System

• Joel Poiley shares his positive view on the new challenge system, saying it brings excitement for fans.
• He compares the new system to watching Monty Hall’s “Let’s Make a Deal” and mentions the immediate reaction it creates.
• Joel praises the batters for their understanding of the strike zone and their ability to challenge pitches.
• Nestor and Joel discuss the drama and excitement created by the new system during the first weekend series.

Historical Context and Cultural Differences in Baseball

• Nestor shares his experience watching a baseball game in Cuba and the cultural differences in fan behavior.
• He describes the loud and passionate reactions of the fans, comparing it to a bullfight.
• Joel mentions his experience attending games in Miami and hearing the fans whistle.
• They discuss the potential impact of the new system on umpires and the possibility of it making the game more interesting.

Debate on the Role of Umpires and the New System

• Nestor and Joel debate whether the new system will eventually replace umpires entirely.
• Joel suggests that the new system is a middle ground between full robot umpires and no review at all.
• They discuss the potential negative impact on umpires’ unions and the possibility of bad umpires being exposed.
• Nestor shares a personal anecdote about a conversation with an umpire on an airport shuttle.

Impact of the New System on Game Outcomes

• Joel expresses concern about the new system potentially deciding games based on computer calls.
• They discuss the potential for increased pitch counts and the impact on pitchers’ workloads.
• Nestor and Joel agree that the new system has made the game more interesting and engaging.
• They talk about the importance of having the best umpires call balls and strikes and the potential for a two-man rotation system.

Orioles’ 2023 Season Outlook

• Nestor and Joel discuss the Orioles’ potential for a competitive season in 2023.
• Joel is cautiously optimistic, predicting around 85 wins and marginal playoff contention.
• They discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Orioles’ lineup, including the lack of team speed and the importance of key players like Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins.
• Joel highlights the importance of the bullpen and the need for starters to go deeper into games.

Concerns About Player Health and Performance

• Joel expresses concern about the health of key players like Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez.
• They discuss the potential impact of platelet-rich plasma injections on pitchers’ performance.
• Joel mentions the importance of having a solid pitching staff and the potential for breakout performances from players like Rodriguez.
• Nestor and Joel agree that the Orioles have the talent to be competitive but acknowledge the many ifs involved.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Joel shares updates on his book “Last Man Standing” and its success.
• Nestor and Joel discuss their plans to meet up again after the draft to discuss the Orioles’ progress.
• Nestor mentions upcoming events for the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and his excitement for the new state-inspired artistic expressions.
• They conclude the conversation with mutual appreciation and optimism for the Orioles’ season.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles season, baseball innovations, ABS system, umpire challenges, pitching depth, team speed, bullpen issues, Adley Rutschman, Cedric Mullins, Grayson Rodriguez, health concerns, fan excitement, Maryland crab cake tour, GBMC, Harlem Globetrotters.

SPEAKERS

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Joel Poiley, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. I am back on the grid, so busy that I haven’t even managed to shave around here. But I will by the time we get to Maryland. Crab cake tour back out on the road. I will have the Harlem Globetrotters. A handful of these left, but we are going to get those really, really cool Maryland State Art tickets out. I’ll have those by next Friday, because Roz is going to get him in my hot little hands. Since I got back from South America and I got sick, and then I got my wife sick, and then we let the walk out on Trump over the weekends. We had things going on around here. Next Friday, Lexington market, we’re going to be at Faith. Lease Steven l miles, we’re going to talk about it next Friday. I don’t think Steve’s ever been on my show, so I’m looking forward to having him on. He loves sports, loves me, and it’s been too long, and we’re both getting old, and we need a crab cake. So that’s next Friday at Faith leagues. All of it brought to you by the Maryland lottery. GB, MC, keep me healthy. I do have my my, my, it’s my first checkup in like 20 years since I’ve been married, having a real checkup like a real doctor at the end of the month, because I’m not worried about me, but everybody else is so GBMC keeping me healthy, and I’m appreciative of that also our friends at Farnan and Dermer for all of our sports coverage. If you’re on the wnst tech service, you got the breaking news first about the Shane Boz signing that is all brought to you by our friends at cold roofing and Gordian energy. And we are thrilled for all of our springtime sponsors and all of our friends, and when baseball gets going, I’m going to welcome Joel poily in he’s down in Tampa, but he’s one of us. He’s a he’s a Baltimore guy, Pikesville guy. He’s been a longtime sports writer. He’s written a book on Tom Matty. Was friends with Tom Matty, but the resides in a place where the taxes are better and the weather’s better, the baseball might be better here, though, than it was going to be down there. Joel, happy opening day happening. Happy new season. And I just keep saying this, and it’s a little bit of a pinch me. On Sunday, after the first weekend series, I started texting all my baseball nerd friends, which you’ve now become included in that. Mark, Messina is coming on, Allen’s coming on, this ABS thing, and you’re a little bit older than me, not much, but a little bit older than me. Um, this has been revolutionary, and it’s, um, they’re gonna have to give them three. I don’t think two is enough. I think three is probably the right number for how many challenges they would need during a game to make it more interesting, keep it more fair, but they changed the game, and I don’t know do 35 years on radio here for me, and you covered the rage, you covered baseball. You coach a little league team down there. How many things have ever come along to make baseball better where they’ve really improved it?

Joel Poiley  02:40

First off, always great to be back. Glad you’re feeling better. I tell you, dude, you know, I’m old school, but I actually like this, man, it’s just brought a whole new level of excitement for the fans who you know for years were dragging with the slow play and everything. I mean, I have some thoughts about it, and I wouldn’t even call them cons, but the pros are great. I mean, it’s, it doesn’t take up much time, you know, it’s immediate. And it’s almost like, you know, you’re watching Monty Hall, you know what’s behind door number three, because you’re waiting for that immediate reaction. And I tell you, you know, I know I crank on today’s batters. You know about striking out too much. I got to give them credit. Man, they know the strike zone pretty damn well. And when they’re, you know, challenging pitches, which then come up where it just caught the bottom of the box. That’s pretty cool to see this stuff. Well, I

Nestor Aparicio  03:42

said to Luke, it’s like watching Kino at Costas. I’m going to cost us for some crabs a night. It’s like watching the ball pop up. It’s, you know, like, and watching it on television exclusively, thanks to Mark fine and Katie Griggs, I get to see this, and I feel like that’s a ball, that’s a strike, you know, whatever it is and that’s going to get overturned. I felt that way just in watching the first 27 innings of it. But Sunday afternoon was really hooked me because my wife’s sick as a dog. I’m finally feeling a little bit better. We’re sitting here watching the game, obviously the manager getting thrown out, arguing about whether the pitcher taught touch this cap or not the right way or quick enough, right? This is where I was. I and I haven’t talked about the ABS system. I mean, Luke and I and Alan, we skated it a little bit. It cost us last month. I watched some spring training baseball, but there’s no stakes in spring training baseball, which that’s one of the things that’s the joy and the pain of spring training baseball is like, doesn’t really matter, and there is no who won, or we’re trying to win. It’s moment to moment in real baseball. Once this thing started on Thursday, I felt like a dog, and I was watching Saturday afternoon. It was. Is that the shadows and and strike outs, all of the things that I we don’t like about baseball, and they lost, but Sunday, that game there had drama. And I thought from the beginning, if you would ask me about this a week ago, Joel, the old guy in me, would say they’re just trying to hustle out the umpire. They’re going to get rid of the umpires. Gonna save some money. They’re gonna, you know, piss the umpires off. They’re gonna not need them. They’re gonna show that they’re not needed anymore, right? Oh, contraire, my dude. I think I reminded me of the time I went to Cuba in 99 I saw the Cuban World Series The night before that Albert Bell, Scott Erickson fiasco down there with Castro and angelos, I went to that same ballpark the night before, right? And they played a World Series game there. And have you ever been to a Latin American baseball game? Joel, have you ever been here? Have not so you know that when the fans get angry, they whistle, you’ll it sounds like psycho. It’s, you

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Joel Poiley  06:06

know, like I’ve been to games in Miami, so I’ve heard so you’ve heard that,

Nestor Aparicio  06:10

okay, but Miami doesn’t have any vibe. This was a packed stadium where the the manager came out. And in Latin culture, it’s like a peacock, you come out and you it’s like a bullfight. You come out and they don’t throw but it’s very Lou Pinella, very Earl Weaver stuff you don’t see in baseball so much anymore, so much. It’s a little embarrassing. And who the hell can even understand Albernaz If he’s out there arguing, I wouldn’t even be I need a translator. Man, like he said something on the base the other day. I swear to you, I rounded three times, and I still don’t know what he said. So, but nonetheless, I’m in Cuba that night, and the manager came out, and it was yelling, arguing back and forth at you’re out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know all of this conflict. And Lord knows, I had enough conflict on my Facebook page over the weekend, because if I run the companies running the country as a criminal and a pedophile and literally a war criminal, but so, but the conflict part of the umpire. Now, if they were to tonight, just say, We’re done with umpires. We don’t need them. We’re just going to put the system in, and a ball is going to be a ball, and a strike is going to be a strike, right? It from from a user ability, it would be so much less interesting than it is now. They can’t take the umpires away now, and I know that that was the first concern. And if you ask me, a week ago, I would have said they’re trying to get rid of the umpires. No, no, no, no, no. Now they can’t get rid of the umpires because they’ve created, right something we’re going to be talking about every night, every pitch, fifth inning, seventh inning, when they’re out of them, when they have them, when the challenge happens, it is created conflict, and it has created more it’s made it more interesting. That’s the word I want to just interesting.

Joel Poiley  08:09

It’s like a perfect middle ground between full like Robo umps and no review at all. You know what I mean. So the point you made about not needing the umps. Now, because I was thinking about this, knowing I was coming on, I made a few notes. And I think you and Luke may have touched about in your other segment, it’s going to out the bad umps in terms of the ones who are really bad, calling balls and strikes like a guy like Ron Luciano, you know, as an example, he was not good behind the plate. Now I know you can’t have the same UMP back there for a four game series every game, but some stuff could, as far as maybe a small negative, some stuff could come up with the umpires union, because at some point it’s going to make a lot of these umps really look bad when a lot of their calls are proven wrong. So well, they’ve had that system

Nestor Aparicio  09:04

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in place for a long time. And Joe, you covered sports. Did you ever spend it? I’m sure a lot of umpires live where you live down in Tampa too. Yeah, I’ve never known an umpire in my life. And I, um, I’ve only had one conversation that I even remember with an umpire. It was on a was on an airport shuttle in Cleveland, and it was after the spitting incident. It was, it was really within a week or two. It was a playoff game a 96 I think it was the day Alomar hit the home run. It I literally think it was that day when Alomar hit the home run in the playoffs. I was in an airport shuttle vehicle with an umpire. And I remember talking to him thinking, wow, this is like the most arrogant, nasty gym teacher, manly men, men, amen, amen, amen. I’m the man he was. And I thought, well, that’s what you’d have to be if you’re out there dealing with Lou pin, Ellen, Sparky Anderson and Tommy the sword every night. I. I don’t know that the modern umpire is that way. I think they’ve all had this system in place. I think they’ve all been graded by more than Bowie coon. You know these days that they are better at it than we think they are. But what happened over the weekend with Cora and the Red Sox and getting nine calls wrong? To your point, there’s going to be a bottom of class, like that. Umpire got thrown out two years ago. I remember his name. He had a Hispanic name that he was Hernandez, no good, and they got rid of it. Yeah. Angel, yeah. Angel, they’re gonna, they’re gonna wind up pruning the tree as far and Leonard Raskin had a great point. And I never really thought about this. If you’re good at calling balls and strikes, it means you have vision and you’re like, you’re just good at that. Why wouldn’t they have the best ones do that and have two man rotations and had the first and second base umpire just be a different job, like a referee or a back judge, or like a linesman and a referee in hockey, they’re two different jobs. Um, that calling strikes is its own job. Let’s get the best of the best that do it. Agree with that wholeheartedly. But I think it’s beautiful that you and I are talking about it, because I think it really has made the game better. I’m going to enjoy baseball more from today moving forward, because of this. And I realized that on Sunday, and I thought, Holy hell, I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’m old and jaded like you, and I’m getting off my lawn, and things were always better before they made baseball better over the weekend, almost makes me want to cry. Well, to hear

Joel Poiley  11:28

the fan reaction, it’s like they’re on the edge of their seat. I mean, I think it’s one of the best innovations they’ve put in the game in a while, to be honest about it. I mean, as far as the ums moving around, look, being behind the plate is far more demanding than you can have controversial calls at the bases, but it’s a tougher day at work when you’re behind the plate mentally, physically. But yeah, I think they should, you know, if they had a system in place like that nest, maybe you don’t even need ABS because you’re letting the best play and, you know, ball and strike umps work those games. Maybe you’re you’re having less arguments, and they are better, because the ones that are bad obviously affect the game in such a negative way and affect the outcome. But I mean in terms of

Nestor Aparicio  12:19

you’re that bad, it’s going to happen like it happened over the weekend. It just they’re just going to keep saying, you’re going to touch their hat and they’re and they’re going to get the call right.

Joel Poiley  12:27

My concern again is it’s not really a negative, it’s just a point of discussion. If one of those calls happens on the last pitch of the game, you know, whether it’s walking in a guy with the bases loaded or having him strike out. I’d hate to see a game decided that way, where a computer decided the game. That is something I’ve been thinking about, you know, just watching it over the weekend,

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Nestor Aparicio  12:55

and that will happen, yeah, yeah.

Joel Poiley  12:57

And I think that will conjure up some more maybe negative context about it. But for right now, I think it’s a really good innovation. But you know, some other little things I’ve been thinking about. There’s so much emphasis now on pitch counts, if it forces a pitcher to throw maybe four or five more pitches in a game, you know, you and I know that really should mean anything, but if it’s the difference between him getting the Yank in the fifth inning after 70 pitches, instead of Albernaz Albie letting him come out for the sixth inning because he still has a few bullets left in his arm, but maybe he’s hit the 75 pitch mark in the fifth inning because he had to throw some extra pitches. You might see a little bit of that. I mean, I don’t know if that’s a negative. It’s just something to keep an eye on. Well, I think

Nestor Aparicio  13:48

everybody your age and my age would think all the umpires have rabbit ears, and they’re all hard and prickly kind of guys, and they don’t want to be told they’re wrong. I think the younger umpires don’t necessarily have the rabbit ears in that way. And I think that the game has now moved to a point where this is going to be ubiquitous. This is going to be the way it is. And I can’t think of many things. The only thing that makes the game better is when you have a chance to win. Joe poorly is our guest. He’s written a book on Tom Matty. He is a Tampa based sports writer in semi retirement, but it still joins us and likes talk sports all listen, this is a year where they have a chance to win. I’ve been on a year 35 years here. When did you leave here? November of 86 How many years have that is that Oriole pennant behind you? How many of these years have we had in 40 years where we can say even but we’re not even in April yet. We’re still in March as we record this, that they’re going to be a competitive baseball team this year. And I think you and I knew that six, eight weeks ago. We know that now, now that they’re on the field, now that efflin is in the rotation, kittridge is going to come back, looks like holiday is going to be better. Back everybody but Westberg. They’re going to get some guys back. Aiken’s another issue too, but they the bullpen is suspect until it’s not. Nunez looks nice for a minute, right? Whatever we saw a suspect. It was on Sunday. The defense is deft. They’re going to kick the ball around, but they’re they’re going to win a lot of games. They’re going to be good. And I haven’t been able to say that week one. Usually it’s like, who are the Ravens drafting right now? I told Luke, I’m like, take a pat on that. Ravens ish. We’ll come back in two weeks and get to that, because they might play 657, under ball here against these bad teams next couple weeks.

Joel Poiley  15:32

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I mean, it’s sad to think it’s been 43 years since they’ve been in the World Series. But other than maybe that five year run that Buck had, you know, when they got better under him, from like 12 to 16, it’s been a lot of crappy baseball. There’s no doubt about that. I think I texted you after I heard the preview between you and Luke, I’m not quite buying the Kool Aid as much as you guys are. I’ll hit it right off the top. I’m figuring like 85 wins and marginal playoff because some of the reasons you’re predicting, but they’ll hit the ball nest, but they don’t have a lot of team speed. I at least for now, I don’t see them graded manufacturing runs. And you know the axiom is as old as time in baseball, but you saw it on opening day. I mean good pitching. I mean Joe Ryan’s an ace. Good pitching will shut down good hitting. And I’m afraid they just don’t have enough when they get in those games like Saturday. And that’s an outlier, maybe because of the shadows. And although it was, I didn’t see the game because I was at a wedding, but I was still shocked when I saw 16 strikeouts. But that won’t be the only

Nestor Aparicio  16:47

time they strike out 16 times this year, though. Yeah.

Joel Poiley  16:49

I mean, look, it’s good to see O’Neill, and I’ve been all over him, general soreness, you know, hit that bomb yesterday because that got him started. But I’m concerned about the lack of Team speed and the lineup is still kind of clunky to me, and this is based on maybe when Westberg gets back, and that’s a whole other concern, because they’re still not giving us a date, and I still think he’s their best clutch hitter, Adley, and not Adley, a gunner. You know, when he’s going well, was probably their best overall athlete, but in clutch situations, at least for now. You know, I like seeing westburger, but, you know, I mentioned Adley, I saw a couple spring training games, and I always go late because I like seeing more of the regulars. So I saw a game like the second week of March, and then the third week of March, he’s he’s gotten that, that fall back in the dugout, thing off balance, out of his swing, and he looks a lot better to me. I mean, Alonzo, no question key O’Neill being healthy. You know, we can talk about health, but you look at a guy like Adley when he’s right, he could bet anywhere from one to five in that lineup. Now they have him batting four, which surprised me when I saw that, you know, opening day, but he delivered, and I guess Albernaz saw enough in the spring. Although can’t always put a

Nestor Aparicio  18:10

lot of cream, he’s such a special talent rushman, if they could just get it right with Him. You know, 20

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Joel Poiley  18:16

dingers, 80 RBIs, 270, and 75 walks. But he could be a lot better than that. And so I think he’s a big key. I mean, so that’s just looking at the offense. Defensively, you’re all over it. However, however, they won yesterday’s game by two runs. They made two good cut offs that cut off bigger innings. I mean, I know one of them ended up being a three run double, but potentially they stopped two runs with those proper cut offs. So I was glad to see that

Nestor Aparicio  18:51

pushing through the wrong base at one point that drove me crazy.

Joel Poiley  18:55

Yeah, yeah, me too, but yeah. I mean, you can’t, I think you’re going to get in a lot of games like this, unfortunately because of their pen. And you just can’t always count on scoring eight

Nestor Aparicio  19:08

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runs well, and the bullpen is going to, oh, that’s a whole other issue. I mean, yeah, every night between 815 and nine o’clock, you know, yeah, bad things are going to happen to them with the bullpen, and whether they beat their way out of it, or whether they can turn a double play or but the bullpen is not going to be nearly as good as the starters. And this length that you and me and Jim Palmer want for the starters, that isn’t reality, but get, you know, getting into the sixth inning be different to getting into the fifth inning, I think, at least in the early time year. And I’m talking about back end of the rotation too, with efflin and and I thought of Boz as back end of the rotation till they gave him all this money. I know.

Joel Poiley  19:50

I mean, I’ve seen him down here. The potential is quite good, maybe even better than gray rod, which you know, if you want to equate him. Subbing for gray rod, who may never be healthy again, but he has games like that where for an inning or two, he’ll back off his fastball or his curveball won’t work. But you know, what bothered me yesterday was that, you know, Albie didn’t leave him in longer than he should have when you’re using seven pitchers in a game. Remember, last time I was on I talked about that human theory. Look what happened. I mean, we know wells will be better than that, but he had an off day. Geraldo could have been, you know, jitters or whatever. Out of those seven, two guys almost cost them the game. And I was reading something, I think it was about Grant Wolfram, where drew French, the pitching coach was talking about how it’s more psychological with these guys than physical, particularly the role they’re in, you know, high leverage versus, you know, earlier in games. And the point he made is what I’ve been saying all along, although he didn’t say it this way, when you’re using that many pitchers in a game, you’re just increasing the likelihood that a couple of them are not going to be on and like you and Luke were talking, man, that’s, that’s, it’s not blowing out your bullpen the second game of the Season, seven pitchers that early. I mean, that that’s telling to me that, I mean, they’ll get Aiken back, they’ll get kittridge back. Cano look better. Remember, I’ve talked about his arm slot. It’s better. Did you see that strikeout of Buxton? That ball tumbled down like two years ago or three years ago? So hopefully he’s corrected that, but, yeah, it’s going to be an issue. So I would like to see the starters get into the sixth, you know, more often, and maybe even the seventh.

Nestor Aparicio  21:50

Joe pointley is our guest. He is that a Tampa Bay he is, how’s your Maddie book doing? You know? I, you know, I, I think of you. I think there’s the Tom Maddie author and all that. But, you know, that’s what you get. You can hold it up. You got it last man standing there you go. I have it too, but I didn’t bring it in with

Joel Poiley  22:10

me today. It’s doing well. I’ll know, like, official numbers, I get a royalty statement, slash check in May, but like, as of last year. I mean, numbers really don’t mean that much, but the editors and the publisher were happy about it, and I still have people up there pushing it. I mean, John Zeman has been great other people in the community, so I gotta get

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Nestor Aparicio  22:32

semen on you. Just thank Thank you. I’m write

Joel Poiley  22:34

that down. I sell them myself. I sold two more the other day to the guy that did my taxes. So that was cool. Well, it’s a great

Nestor Aparicio  22:42

story, because he was such a he was a legend here.

Joel Poiley  22:45

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Yeah, it’s doing well, but yeah, I still keep in touch with Judy. You know that, of

Nestor Aparicio  22:50

course, of course. Much love to the Maddie family. I want to make sure I threw that in there before we go back to talk some baseball. So you’re not bullish on the Orioles. What’s going to go wrong? 8585 wins. I think so.

Joel Poiley  23:02

The thing it’s just too many. Ifs health is always an issue. I do like the depth that Elias established with the pitching staff. I downgraded them from like a B plus to a B when he didn’t bring in a top of the rotation guy. I know they’re looking at Bradish that way. I’m hoping Rogers continued this ascent to be the next Cliff Lee. I mean, that’s what he looked like, and he reminded me of Lee, you know, with that great breaking ball and the ability to spot pitches and and he didn’t have his good stuff opening day, but he he battled, but I still would have liked to have seen that ace. But the you know, people are like questioning, oh, you know, they sent Kramer down. Look, I love Dean innings eater, straight up. Dude, efflin is a better pitcher than Kramer, so I didn’t have a problem with that, when everyone’s a solid two or three, and to think he pitched with a bad back for the first 10 years of his career. So I’m excited to see what he could I mean, for him as a number five. So the rotation depth is good. You got these guys. You know, Povich is still trying to figure it out, but good. He’s not in the rotation. I mean, I was thinking you can’t even put him in a bullpen because he has no command. So you can’t bring a guy in with runners on base, and he’s spraying pitches all over to zone. So it’s just iffy. Can they stay healthy? I mean, can Bradish give you 150 innings? You know, because they’re still going to have to watch them. I’ll take a 3.5 era from Rogers Boz. I was surprised at the contract, but, you know, it shows it’s very speculative, right?

Nestor Aparicio  24:41

And, yeah, I mean, there’s nothing on the back of the bubble gum card that screams like we got to have this

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Joel Poiley  24:47

guy here in the next five I’ve seen him have a stuff down here, and I’ve seen him get lit up. So, I mean, obviously Elias knows him from high school, and there’s that caveat. But, you know, and Bassett. I think Bassett could be kind of like a diamond and run another point I do like about this club. I was reading something in spring training where they were doing cut offs, and they had 20 minutes where they were terrible and and Bassett reamed them out. He said, Look, I came this close to a freaking world series last year. I didn’t come here to watch this kind of BS. We’re good enough to get back there and make a long run in the playoffs. And then in the middle of that, Alonso says, Do it over. And they ran it again for 20 more minutes, and it was much crisper. I think that’s something that they haven’t had a lot of accountability, maybe. I mean, if everything breaks right, ness, yeah, they could win 92 or 93 games. But there’s a lot of ifs when O’Neal dove for that ball yesterday, I’m thinking, oh no, did he sprain his shoulder? You know, you’re always worried about these guys who are fragile. And like I said, I’m concerned about Westie because they’re not giving us a date, you know, and these platelet rich blood injections that they get, I mean, my brother in law is a doctor and a great sports fan, and we talk about this all the time, they rarely have worked on pitchers. Remember, Bradish had one, and he had eight starts, and it just didn’t take maybe it’s a little easier with the position guy, but he’s still throwing the ball during practice, and also he’s he’s making almost as many throws as a pitcher, so I’m concerned about that. And we haven’t even talked about holiday who, you know, I’ll give him the benefit. He’s 22 but I still don’t see one one out of that, and I really don’t. And Albie to me, he’s, he’s just the second coming right now, Hyde. Remember when they brought Hyde in? You know, he worked with Madden, one of the hot young guys, and what they gave him, like, a three or four year lead because the team was going to stink. So that is different.

Nestor Aparicio  26:59

It’s amazing. Hyde survived long enough to be a playoff manager.

Joel Poiley  27:02

Seriously, seriously. And, you know, I mean, we’ll watch Albie and how he handles the pitching, but like yesterday, you know, he brings in Geraldo, and, you know, first pitch, boom, Tie game, home run. You just wonder, with these guys now, I see it with cash and a lot of these guys, how much of this is their decision, versus what’s coming from the front office and all the analytics guys, you wonder.

Nestor Aparicio  27:27

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So I think all of us wonder about that.

Joel Poiley  27:29

Yeah, so I like albie’s spirit. You know, he seems a little more like a rah, rah kind of guy. Maybe they need that. Maybe they don’t. But I think having guys like Alonzo and bass and in the dugout will definitely help. I was glad to see gunner get really ticked the other day. You know, not off to a great start. I like that fire, but there’s just too many ifs right now, and if they’re going to be a lot of games like yesterday, that’s trouble because of the pen the starting pitching, yes, is better, but I’m concerned that they’re going to lose a lot of 433254, games when the other teams pitching bullpen anyway is better than ours. So I think they’ll be much more competitive, obviously, than last year in the end of 24 but it’s kind of like a Missouri thing you got to show me right now before I’m willing to, you know, jump all in.

Nestor Aparicio  28:28

I also think the bats that they have might feast on late inning pitching and bad relief pitching as well. So that’s something I know the Orioles relief pitching is not going to be great on most nights, and they’re going to give up some runs and but at least they have capable bats of hitting big flies late in games off of other bad pitchers. So for that,

Joel Poiley  28:50

I hope so. I mean, you saw it yesterday. I mean, it was really glad to see beavers get that hit. I mean, he lost that ball in the sun. That can happen. But again, I’m worried about their outfield defense. I mean, when I look at a guy like Byron Buxton, I wouldn’t have minded them trading for him, or I don’t, I don’t know. I guess maybe he was a free agent. I don’t know. They needed another big bat and ended up being Alonzo. And I really do think he’ll be great. And maybe he could be this eras version of Frank. That kind of puts him

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Nestor Aparicio  29:23

over the ward at 30 home runs last year too. So, like they’ve added that, I see that as sort of the Santander replacement in my way. And he also made a nice playing left field, kept the double away.

Joel Poiley  29:33

Yeah, yeah. I mean, he got hooked in a little bit on that, that triple one opening day where I don’t think he realized that ball is going to roll around in that corner there, but gonna run. But I heard too that he came out the next day and was working with the coaches on an off day. Like to see that. So you know, maybe the athleticism makes up for the lack of speed, but just depending on the long ball when you get in these tight. Teams. You look at a team like Milwaukee, they don’t have the power we have, but they play smaller ball, and you know, they’re they’re making the playoffs every year now. They’re not good enough to get too deep into the playoffs, but they’re there. So I just think there’s a lot of ifs right now that I’m just holding back a little bit.

Nestor Aparicio  30:19

I agree with you. There’s station to station. To station. I agree with you. They’re going to strike out a lot, but I’m optimistic more so than Joel poily. He is the author of the Tom Matty book, and he’s my friend down in Tampa, and everybody

Joel Poiley  30:30

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thinks you’re so damn negative, they just don’t listen to you enough.

Nestor Aparicio  30:35

Yeah, they all need to listen more, Joel, they should. Hey, take care of yourself. I’ll jump back in with you after the draft. We’ll get together next time we get together, we’ll see where the Orioles are. This early schedule of not such great opponents should bode well for them. Certainly, it’s going to be better than it was last year for that. I think so. I think so we’re going to hang in there. Last man standing is the book? Hold it up. Tell them where to find it. Where can they buy that book?

Joel Poiley  31:01

Oh, it’s all over Amazon. Books a Million anywhere you would buy it online. It’s not in stores, but anywhere online. And they’ve actually dropped the price a couple dollars.

Nestor Aparicio  31:12

So there you go. All right, save a few bucks. I like that. I’m all for saving a few bucks. Joe Paul is my guess. My thanks to him. We are getting back after it with the Maryland crab cake tour. Next Friday, we’re going to be at fade leaves at Fayette Lee’s at Lexington market before the Giants game. I will have few Harlem Globetrotter scratch off. It’s been a lucky batch, but I’m also going to get those beautiful new state inspired artistic expressions. I’m looking forward to that. That’s next Friday at fayettely’s Maryland crab cake Tour presented my friends at GBMC and Farnan and Dermer. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, D, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking. Baltimore, positive. I.